by Carolina S.G.

Created on: July 17, 2007

The thrill of seeing the positive mark on the pregnancy test was sweetly electrifying, I was pregnant with my second child! The birth of my first child had been very out of control and the turn out was an emergency c-section. This time, everything was going to be great. Naturally, I made my first doctor's appointment to ensure great prenatal care and headed out to the bookstore to get the best pregnancy book I could find. I hoped to find answers to most of my questions (and also things I didn't even know to ask) in a book.

I looked through all the books on the shelf and took home the one that I found most attractive to my persona.
Looking back, I wish I could've found a book that told me what most books out there never tell.
I never knew that an event as exciting, beautiful and amazing as a pregnancy, after a full 41 weeks of gestation, could end up in the desperate and tragic loss of my baby girl's precious life. Camila was born still weighing 9 Lbs 3 oz & measuring 22 inches, quiet and lifeless.
Stillbirth is the term used when a baby dies in his/her mother's womb after 20 weeks of pregnancy. It is extremely common. 26,000 babies die in their mother's womb every year in the U.S. alone. That is 1 baby every 20 minutes.
There are many cases in which the causes for stillbirth are unknown, but there are also many cases in which the causes are clear. In my case, my daughter had an extremely short umbilical cord that was never diagnosed. She breached herself after my last prenatal appointment where the midwife stripped my membranes. The change in her position caused the her life supply to cut off.
My Doctor failed to be thorough in my prenatal care.
There is not much awareness for this issue by prenatal caretakers, doctors or the government. In many cases, being aware of simple tests one could ask your doctor to give you, could end up saving your baby's life.
So, given my situation of having to hold my lifeless baby after 41 weeks of pregnancy & living with grief and devastation of such a terrible loss, I would've liked to know that something called Stillbirth exists. I would've liked to know that there were tests I could've taken to prevent any surprises or misfortunes.
Do you think every pregnant woman should know?
I DO!

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